Situbundo and Bali

After having spent 3 days in Situbundo we thought it was time to move on to Bali. Our actual purpose for going to Situbundo was not just to have an adventure. In its actually so that Britts grandmother is half Indonesian and lived in Situbundo during the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia. Britt wanted to take the opportunity to go and find the house her grandmother lived in back then as we were so close by.

With just the names and occupations of the family and no addresses or any other helpful information we set out to find this house. How big can this small town really be we thought. It turned out to be a large town, not a single foreign person and we also realised how the tourist places have really adapted to the westerners. The hotel we stayed at was local standards,which we actually didn't mind. The room was like any other room we have had before, just half the price. What we found to be great fun, was the shower. It wasn't a shower per se, more of a large bucket under a tap and a smaller bucket with a handle. We have seen these bucket showers before, but have never used them as most places usually have a shower head to. However it was great fun being able to take showers local style! Every touristy place you go to in Asia you will find wifi in all restaurants and guesthouses. In Situbundo this would never work. There was one Internet cafe in town and the local square had free wifi. We ventured down there one afternoon and saw several young people sitting in the square with laptops and phones. It's actually a very nice idea to be able to help out the local people who can't afford Internet.

As mentioned before, Situbundo is a town with no tourists at all. We didn't expect anyone to speak a word of English. We were pleasantly surprised. In the hotel we befriended a 50 year old geography teacher from the town and he decided to dedicate his 2 days off so help us out a d show us around the area. He acted as our translator when needed and gave us ideas on where to go to search for the house we were looking for. We went to various police stations to find old records, to the Lura, which basically means the village chief and he is supposed to know a lot about the history of the area. Then we went to some other places just asking around. It was a great experience as the people in Situbundo are very curious people. If we stopped to ask someone a questions, after 5 minutes there would be a crowd of about 10 people trying to help out and come with different suggestions. Our first day we came back with no results, it was then decided we would go to a neighbouring town where it was possible that britts grandmother could have lived, the next day.

That next day after driving to the smaller town, we ended up at a police station again. The police stations here are awesome. They look like what I guess the police stations looked like in Europe In the 50's or 60's. Old wooded desks and chairs, wooded benches outside of the different rooms which are marked with old weathered wooden signs. As smoking is Indonesia's national sport, it's not uncommon to see all of the police officers from the station sitting together chatting away and chain smoking. As soon as we made it to the station, about 5 officers dropped whatever they were doing and dedicated the next hour or 2 to help us out with our cause. They showed us around and after they just decided to sit down and have a little chat with us, of course ending our visit there with taking pictures with all of them.

Unfortunately there were no more old records which stated to address of britts family, so we needed up never finding the house. We still do value our experience and have had a great time in Situbundo, it did feel like it was time to move on, with Bali as our next stop we couldn't wait to get to the sea and beaches again! Now we are in Bali and are already leavening to go to Gili Trawagan tomorrow. There we are planning on doing a lot of snorkelling, perhaps some diving ( well I will need to learn how to dive) and some beach lounging.